If you have ever done any cooking with something other than a microwave, you will have seen cooking instructions which start out with something like this: “Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees”. Following that, comes the list of ingredients and directions on how to mix them or prepare them. When that is done, then you put that concoction into the oven, set the timer for the requisite time, and wait until it is done. Whether it is 8-10 minutes for a batch of chocolate chip cookies or several hours for that Thanksgiving Day turkey or just a quick cooking in the skillet, the wait is, usually, worth your time. It takes very little imagination to remember that first bite into a soft, gooey chocolate chip cookie. Then comes the fun of licking your fingers while trying to steal just one more.
If you don’t do that first step in the preparation, heating the oven or skillet, then all of the wonderful ingredients you so carefully prepared, assuming you followed the rest of the instructions, are useless. They are just one concoction of something that is not what you wanted. Now most of you are willing to eat the cookie dough, but it is a mess and not the final product you envisioned. Raw turkey just doesn’t have the same look, feel, or taste. You have to do the most important part if you are going to get what you want. You have to start at the beginning and follow the directions.
As Christians, we have a very special cookbook of our own. It is the Bible. If we follow the instructions contained within its many pages, we can get to the final product. That product is, of course, spending eternity in God’s presence. Just like in a recipe, we have to do that first preparatory step. We have to recognize and acknowledge there is a God and that Jesus Christ is his son. We have to pre-heat our spiritual oven to 463. You don’t get it? Look at the letters on the numbers of your phone. God is 4-6-3! By heating our spiritual oven to God, we make ourselves ready to follow the rest of the recipe that he laid out for us in His almighty cookbook. Just like a regular cookbook, which has many contributors, each contributing her or his favorite recipe, God selected certain men and women to write His words for us to read. That compilation, that wonderful cookbook, will help us produce the best of all results: life everlasting with God.
The temperature you want to set is 463. The ingredients are the things we do with our life. Sometimes the mix may be smooth and sometimes it may be a bit lumpy. If you follow the instructions, bake it at just the right temperature, set the timer for your life, then what comes out is truly Heaven!
Friday, May 29, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Stopping The Spin
From 1969 to 1989, I was a Navy pilot and twice during that span of time, I had the privilege of being a jet instructor for fledgling student pilots. So, I am going to give you a mini-lesson in the simple aerodynamics of something I taught to all of my students. This lesson is going to be about how a plane gets into a spin and how to get it out of one. If you have ever been to an airshow, then at some point during the show, an aerobatic pilot thrilled and scared the crowd by putting the plane into a spin and then pulling it out at seemingly the last minute. It looks simple and it is up to a point. So sit back and learn a bit about this basic set of maneuvers. Once I get that done, then see how I turn that lesson into how it applies to our life with God.
The first concept is the stall. Now, if you drive a car, you have probably had a car stall on you. For some reason, the engine quits. Unless there is a mechanical problem, you can restart it by just turning the key and continue your journey. When a plane stalls, that means the wings are not generating lift and that plane is now a streamlined rock and is no longer flying. The recovery is easy: just lower the nose and add power and pull back up to level flight. All spins start with a stall.
When a plane first starts to spin, it enters the post-stall gyration phase. It sort of just flops around, the nose pitches up and down and the turns are erratic, almost as if it really doesn’t want to do this. After a couple of turns, it enters into the incipient spin phase. There is still some pitching and the turns are not very smooth, but it is headed to the final phase. That phase is the steady state phase. The nose attitude is fixed and the turns are constant. The other part is the plane is falling out of the sky at a high rate of descent! Now for the best part: recovery and return to normal flight. That last happens when the pilot applies the correct controls and the plane responds as predicted.
Okay, now you are wondering how the previous three paragraphs about a spinning airplane are going to apply to your relationship with God. Well, here it goes.
What I am really going to talk about is sin. That’s right, the province of God’s enemy, and ours, Satan. Have you ever taken a look at your life when you are a long way down the wrong track and wondered how you got there? Maybe this doesn’t apply to you. If not, then good. Keep reading anyway, because it may apply to you someday or to someone you know.
Just like a car stalls and an airplane stalls, so do we sometimes. Let’s say you are walking through life and something catches your attention. It is something that you should avoid, but what is the harm in a quick glance? Just a short pause and then, when you realize what you see, you add power, recover and keep going. What if you linger just a bit too long with whatever it is. Just like a stalled plane, you can start flopping around with your decision: should you or shouldn’t you? Around and around you go, just flip-flopping back and forth. You can recover at this stage and return to normal flight, but what if you stick around just a little longer.
Sticking around a bit longer can get you from the post-stall phase to the incipient phase. You are really getting into the edges of the sin, temptation has a good hold and you are nibbling at it, but there is still a little bit of indecision there, still a little bit of pitch to your progress into sinning. You aren’t quite all the way into it but you are almost there, fully committed. Here it comes! The steady state spin of your sin. Around and around you go. It is just a nice steady ride, a smooth trip while you watch the world you knew zip past. The problem is the ride is also straight down. You are the streamlined rock and you are taking that definite negative plunge. Aviators have a saying about pilots who don’t recover from the spin. We talk about them creating a smoking hole in the ground. The same can go for you, only the hole you can get into is full of fire and no smoke. It doesn’t flare and go out; it burns with a constant flame, and a hot one at that. Too bad, isn’t it? Had you applied any of the known recovery techniques, you wouldn’t be there.
Recovery? Oh, yeah, I didn’t talk about that part of the deal when I was still talking about planes. The way you stop a spin, whether you entered it on purpose or inadvertently, is to see which direction you are spinning and then apply full opposite rudder. Spinning to the right? Apply full left rudder until the spin stops and then raise the nose back to the horizon and apply power so you can return to level flight.
Recovering from your sinful spin is the same thing. In simple terms, just start doing the opposite to what you have been doing. When you see that you are out of that life situation, return to the straight and level and apply all of God’s power to keep going straight ahead.
Any airplane can spin and it can be done intentionally or unintentionally. It is up to the pilot to make sure it doesn’t happen and, if so, to recover before any damage is done. There is one exception to that: there is one airplane that, because of the design of the controls, it won’t spin. There is one person who didn’t sin, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Any of the rest of us can do so, and can do so many times. It is up to us to recognize that situation, that temptation, regardless of how pretty or appealing and then recover back to the level path. Jesus came and showed us that path and provided us with the means, strength, and help to stay there. Maintaining straight and level flight will get you from your takeoff point to your destination. You have an excellent instructor and the flight manual is full of the details you need for all normal operations and instructions on how to handle emergencies. It is up to you to listen and study. It is that destination that makes all of the effort worthwhile.
The first concept is the stall. Now, if you drive a car, you have probably had a car stall on you. For some reason, the engine quits. Unless there is a mechanical problem, you can restart it by just turning the key and continue your journey. When a plane stalls, that means the wings are not generating lift and that plane is now a streamlined rock and is no longer flying. The recovery is easy: just lower the nose and add power and pull back up to level flight. All spins start with a stall.
When a plane first starts to spin, it enters the post-stall gyration phase. It sort of just flops around, the nose pitches up and down and the turns are erratic, almost as if it really doesn’t want to do this. After a couple of turns, it enters into the incipient spin phase. There is still some pitching and the turns are not very smooth, but it is headed to the final phase. That phase is the steady state phase. The nose attitude is fixed and the turns are constant. The other part is the plane is falling out of the sky at a high rate of descent! Now for the best part: recovery and return to normal flight. That last happens when the pilot applies the correct controls and the plane responds as predicted.
Okay, now you are wondering how the previous three paragraphs about a spinning airplane are going to apply to your relationship with God. Well, here it goes.
What I am really going to talk about is sin. That’s right, the province of God’s enemy, and ours, Satan. Have you ever taken a look at your life when you are a long way down the wrong track and wondered how you got there? Maybe this doesn’t apply to you. If not, then good. Keep reading anyway, because it may apply to you someday or to someone you know.
Just like a car stalls and an airplane stalls, so do we sometimes. Let’s say you are walking through life and something catches your attention. It is something that you should avoid, but what is the harm in a quick glance? Just a short pause and then, when you realize what you see, you add power, recover and keep going. What if you linger just a bit too long with whatever it is. Just like a stalled plane, you can start flopping around with your decision: should you or shouldn’t you? Around and around you go, just flip-flopping back and forth. You can recover at this stage and return to normal flight, but what if you stick around just a little longer.
Sticking around a bit longer can get you from the post-stall phase to the incipient phase. You are really getting into the edges of the sin, temptation has a good hold and you are nibbling at it, but there is still a little bit of indecision there, still a little bit of pitch to your progress into sinning. You aren’t quite all the way into it but you are almost there, fully committed. Here it comes! The steady state spin of your sin. Around and around you go. It is just a nice steady ride, a smooth trip while you watch the world you knew zip past. The problem is the ride is also straight down. You are the streamlined rock and you are taking that definite negative plunge. Aviators have a saying about pilots who don’t recover from the spin. We talk about them creating a smoking hole in the ground. The same can go for you, only the hole you can get into is full of fire and no smoke. It doesn’t flare and go out; it burns with a constant flame, and a hot one at that. Too bad, isn’t it? Had you applied any of the known recovery techniques, you wouldn’t be there.
Recovery? Oh, yeah, I didn’t talk about that part of the deal when I was still talking about planes. The way you stop a spin, whether you entered it on purpose or inadvertently, is to see which direction you are spinning and then apply full opposite rudder. Spinning to the right? Apply full left rudder until the spin stops and then raise the nose back to the horizon and apply power so you can return to level flight.
Recovering from your sinful spin is the same thing. In simple terms, just start doing the opposite to what you have been doing. When you see that you are out of that life situation, return to the straight and level and apply all of God’s power to keep going straight ahead.
Any airplane can spin and it can be done intentionally or unintentionally. It is up to the pilot to make sure it doesn’t happen and, if so, to recover before any damage is done. There is one exception to that: there is one airplane that, because of the design of the controls, it won’t spin. There is one person who didn’t sin, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Any of the rest of us can do so, and can do so many times. It is up to us to recognize that situation, that temptation, regardless of how pretty or appealing and then recover back to the level path. Jesus came and showed us that path and provided us with the means, strength, and help to stay there. Maintaining straight and level flight will get you from your takeoff point to your destination. You have an excellent instructor and the flight manual is full of the details you need for all normal operations and instructions on how to handle emergencies. It is up to you to listen and study. It is that destination that makes all of the effort worthwhile.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Hot Coals
We have all listened to motivational speakers at one time or another and many of us have taken part in the activities or programs they talk about. It is often a matter of believing in what they believe and taking that belief to the next level and using it to change our lives. Maybe it is simply a matter of a single act that shows us we can believe in ourselves and others. The motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, has a part of his program that brings out that belief in the people attending his seminars. On the last day of the seminar, the people who put it on lay out a strip of wood about 25 feet long and then light it. It burns all day and at the end of the day it is a bed of coals with a temperature of 1,800 degrees. To put this in perspective, aluminum starts to melt at about 1,200 degrees and steel at about 2,600 degrees. At the end of the day, the students are encouraged to walk the length of the bed of coals barefooted. They are assured they will not burn their feet if they follow directions. There is a video on the internet of Oprah Winfrey going across that bed of coals, after first swearing she would never do it. She believed in what she heard and learned and crossed successfully.
It is all about faith. She had faith in the people who ran the conference, faith that they knew what they were talking about. I can’t begin to imagine how scary that had to be, but she knew she would not be harmed by the hot coals. Get that? She knew. She took the word of someone else and followed the instructions to the letter because of her belief in them.
As Christians we are asked to believe in someone we have never met, someone who lived once a long time ago and has devout followers all over the world. Jesus walked on the Earth for more than 30 years. The people who lived in that time period and within a walking distance knew Jesus. They saw him, heard him talk about God and salvation. Those times have passed; more than two millennia are behind us. Yet we hold onto a system of values and beliefs given to us to guide our lives. Despite all of the nay-sayers and others who challenge us or attack us, we still believe.
I was once told that believing in God and in Jesus Christ based on faith alone is the most illogical of actions. There is only a little proof that Jesus lived and no physical proof of God’s existence. We, however, know that God is alive and well and that Jesus Christ walked upon this planet and today sits at the Father’s right hand. Perhaps we can’t prove the existence to others, but we carry that proof in our hearts and souls. Those of us who have faith have all of the proof we need.
Jesus told the Apostles that their faith, even if it was the size of a small mustard seed, could pick up a mountain and toss it into the sea. I have no intention of picking up a mountain, or even a small hill, and tossing it into the ocean. What I do intend to do is to believe in God wholeheartedly and in His desire to love me and take care of me.
What about you? Do you believe it God totally? Or, do you believe in Him only in your mind and ignoring the rest of yourself? Until you can accept God with all that you are and all you will ever be, you will be incomplete in your belief and in your life as a Christian. If you only believe in God, in Jesus, in your head, then that is just an intellectual exercise. You need to trust God totally and let him into your life, to be the most important part of it.
What do you have to lose? Take that step! It doesn’t lead to a bed of burning coals, just to a wonderful life here on earth and, later, with God in Heaven for eternity.
It is all about faith. She had faith in the people who ran the conference, faith that they knew what they were talking about. I can’t begin to imagine how scary that had to be, but she knew she would not be harmed by the hot coals. Get that? She knew. She took the word of someone else and followed the instructions to the letter because of her belief in them.
As Christians we are asked to believe in someone we have never met, someone who lived once a long time ago and has devout followers all over the world. Jesus walked on the Earth for more than 30 years. The people who lived in that time period and within a walking distance knew Jesus. They saw him, heard him talk about God and salvation. Those times have passed; more than two millennia are behind us. Yet we hold onto a system of values and beliefs given to us to guide our lives. Despite all of the nay-sayers and others who challenge us or attack us, we still believe.
I was once told that believing in God and in Jesus Christ based on faith alone is the most illogical of actions. There is only a little proof that Jesus lived and no physical proof of God’s existence. We, however, know that God is alive and well and that Jesus Christ walked upon this planet and today sits at the Father’s right hand. Perhaps we can’t prove the existence to others, but we carry that proof in our hearts and souls. Those of us who have faith have all of the proof we need.
Jesus told the Apostles that their faith, even if it was the size of a small mustard seed, could pick up a mountain and toss it into the sea. I have no intention of picking up a mountain, or even a small hill, and tossing it into the ocean. What I do intend to do is to believe in God wholeheartedly and in His desire to love me and take care of me.
What about you? Do you believe it God totally? Or, do you believe in Him only in your mind and ignoring the rest of yourself? Until you can accept God with all that you are and all you will ever be, you will be incomplete in your belief and in your life as a Christian. If you only believe in God, in Jesus, in your head, then that is just an intellectual exercise. You need to trust God totally and let him into your life, to be the most important part of it.
What do you have to lose? Take that step! It doesn’t lead to a bed of burning coals, just to a wonderful life here on earth and, later, with God in Heaven for eternity.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Equal And Opposite
The renowned physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, put forth three basic laws of physics. The third law says that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. For example, if you have a see-saw and you push down on one end, the opposite end goes up by an equal amount. If you were wearing ice skates and were on the ice, holding a ball, and you pushed the ball away from you, you would move backwards. If you have ever fired a gun, then the recoil is the reaction to the explosion of the gunpowder and the bullet leaving the barrel.
In some countries and cultures, punishment is similar to this. If you steal from a person, you might have a hand chopped off, in a sense an equal reaction. In Mosiac law, the concept of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, followed the same line of reasoning.
When Jesus came and walked on the Earth, He changed this concept of Mosiac law. He also had an equal action/reaction principle to His teaching. The difference was that His reaction to evil was an opposite, but positive, one. He said that if someone slapped your cheek, instead of hitting him back, you turned and offered the other cheek. If a Roman soldier ordered someone to carry his armor for a mile, as was the law under Roman rule, then the positive reaction was to carry it a second mile instead of trying to figure out how to even the score. Even when He was put to death on the cross, He showed us an equal reaction. While He could have used His power to punish those who killed Him, He forgave them. Equal and opposite. Returning good for bad.
How about you? What your reactions to things that are done to you? If someone does something nice for you, what do you do? Sometimes a heartfelt “Thank you” is appropriate enough. A favor done for you doesn’t incur an obligation, but if you should see an opportunity to return the favor in some way, then you should certainly take it. Perhaps a nice thing done for you by a stranger could cause you to do something nice for a different stranger. I am sure you see the drift of this and can come up with your own ways of being an opposite reactor.
All of this niceness is great, but how about the other side of life? What do you do to the person who wrongs you in some way? Maybe they do something that hurts your feelings or causes you to get angry. Getting revenge in some way is certainly an equal reaction. What if your reaction is stronger than their original action? So, they try to balance the books and it goes back and forth, escalating higher and higher. That is not what Jesus taught us to do. Based on His example, we should return at least an equal amount of good for the wrong done to us. There is no telling what such an example might do to another person. What if your positive reaction showed them how it is supposed to be done? What if they talked to you or someone else about it, curious as to why you didn’t return bad for bad, and that curiosity ultimately lead them to Jesus? Not only would you have given them an equal reaction, but you would have given them something even greater.
The life you lead, the people you meet and with whom you interact, offer you countless opportunities to perform equal and opposite reactions. What are your reactions going to be? Are they going to be negative, which plays right into Satan’s plans, or are they going be to positive, just as Jesus taught us through His words and his actions? It is up to you to grab the right one. The question is: Will you do it?
In some countries and cultures, punishment is similar to this. If you steal from a person, you might have a hand chopped off, in a sense an equal reaction. In Mosiac law, the concept of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, followed the same line of reasoning.
When Jesus came and walked on the Earth, He changed this concept of Mosiac law. He also had an equal action/reaction principle to His teaching. The difference was that His reaction to evil was an opposite, but positive, one. He said that if someone slapped your cheek, instead of hitting him back, you turned and offered the other cheek. If a Roman soldier ordered someone to carry his armor for a mile, as was the law under Roman rule, then the positive reaction was to carry it a second mile instead of trying to figure out how to even the score. Even when He was put to death on the cross, He showed us an equal reaction. While He could have used His power to punish those who killed Him, He forgave them. Equal and opposite. Returning good for bad.
How about you? What your reactions to things that are done to you? If someone does something nice for you, what do you do? Sometimes a heartfelt “Thank you” is appropriate enough. A favor done for you doesn’t incur an obligation, but if you should see an opportunity to return the favor in some way, then you should certainly take it. Perhaps a nice thing done for you by a stranger could cause you to do something nice for a different stranger. I am sure you see the drift of this and can come up with your own ways of being an opposite reactor.
All of this niceness is great, but how about the other side of life? What do you do to the person who wrongs you in some way? Maybe they do something that hurts your feelings or causes you to get angry. Getting revenge in some way is certainly an equal reaction. What if your reaction is stronger than their original action? So, they try to balance the books and it goes back and forth, escalating higher and higher. That is not what Jesus taught us to do. Based on His example, we should return at least an equal amount of good for the wrong done to us. There is no telling what such an example might do to another person. What if your positive reaction showed them how it is supposed to be done? What if they talked to you or someone else about it, curious as to why you didn’t return bad for bad, and that curiosity ultimately lead them to Jesus? Not only would you have given them an equal reaction, but you would have given them something even greater.
The life you lead, the people you meet and with whom you interact, offer you countless opportunities to perform equal and opposite reactions. What are your reactions going to be? Are they going to be negative, which plays right into Satan’s plans, or are they going be to positive, just as Jesus taught us through His words and his actions? It is up to you to grab the right one. The question is: Will you do it?
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Invisible People
Matthew 25:40 "...whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me..."
They are the people who serve us and help us. They are the person who checks out your purchase at the grocery store or puts the items in the bags and carries them to your car. They take your order at the restaurant and bring your food to the table. When you go to the restroom at work, you will see them cleaning up after you and your co-workers. If you live in a housing complex like a condo or set of townhouses, they take care of the landscape.
If you can see them, then why do I say they are invisible? Because you look at them as just part of the scenary. Do you look at the nametag of the grocery checker and greet her or him by name? When the server at the restaurant comes up and says, "Hi, my name is Mary (or John) and I will be your server today", how long does it take you to not only forget the name but even what she or he looked like? Maybe that restroom attendant has a name and would like to be noticed and appreciated for a job that most of us would not like to have.
We have all heard of the rich, the famous, and the infamous. It is those others who occupy the background of life who are also there with us. The really wonderful thing is that Jesus isn't interested in our bank balance, he is there for all of us, the highest and the lowest, the very wealthy and the homeless. It is how we live this life that counts, not the counting of the dollars and diamonds. It is how we spend the gift of this lfe, not how much we spend. Remember the lesson of the pharisee and the publican. It was the publican who stayed at the back of the temple, hiding in the shadows because he felt unworthy, who went away justified, and not the pharisee who went up front glorifying himself.
What are you doing with God's gifts? God has given us the gift of seeing the other people around us. How are you using it? Do you see the lowly as well as the highborn? Do you see God in the least of us? He is there, trust me. It is up to you to treat the janitor as if he were Jesus...he just might be.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
It's A Rainbow!
Our life is full of rainbows, just look in the right direction after the rain stops on a sunny day. Usually we get to see one end or the other because trees or buildings get in the way. Many years ago, I was on a tropical island and after the storm and the sun came out, there was a double rainbow out over the water. It was a truly beautiful and wonderful sight. Rainbows are celebrated in poetry and certainly song. I am sure we have all sung "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" to our kids, just as our parents sung it to us. Whether it is the Judy Garland version or the much newer medley by Israel Kamakawio'ole, it is a wonderful song that talks about hope for something or somewhere. There is also the musical, Finian's Rainbow, that debuted on stage in 1947 and was made into a movie in 1968 starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. It is full of music and humor and Astaire's character is always looking for that other end of the rainbow, looking for the pot of gold.
When we took General Science in high school, we learned th colors that are in the rainbow by the silly name of ROY G BIV. The letters stand for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. There is a certain magic in the colors. The Red and Yellow make the Orange, the Yellow and Blue make the Green, and the Blue and Violet make the Indigo. All of those make still more colors, an infinite variety of the visible colors from one end to the other. Don't forget the ones we can't see unaided, the ultraviolet on one end and the infrared on the other.
The physics of light refraction don't change and there have always been rainbows as long as there has been sunlight and rain. However, the best rainbow ever recorded is in Genesis when God showed one to Noah at the end of the period of the great flood and promised him that he, God, would never again destroy the earth with flooding. That promise is but one of many that God has given to us since our creation in his image and likeness. The best promise of all was to give his son to us to save us and redeem us from the sin of Adam and Eve. Twice in the new testament, God the Father announces that Jesus is, "My beloved son in whom I am well pleased". He did it to the multitude who witnessed Jesus' baptism and again on the Mount of Transfiguration. God kept that promise through the horror of the crucifixion and the ascension.
God promised us that we may spend all of eternity with him once our time on Earth is finished. His only request of us is that we serve him faithfully, follow the rules, the commandments, he gave us, and follow the leadership of us son, Jesus. He didn't promise us it would be easy or without trouble or strife. He did promise us he would be there for us to call on when we needed help. Whether that help would be truly miraculous or having the right person come into our life at the right time is up to him. He knows the best way and we who are wise will accept the help he brings.
God may or may not show you his rainbow as the symbol of his promise. He may show you something else of his beauty when you most need it. At the end of the day, what he will show you is his limitless and endless love for you. What more can we want?
When we took General Science in high school, we learned th colors that are in the rainbow by the silly name of ROY G BIV. The letters stand for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. There is a certain magic in the colors. The Red and Yellow make the Orange, the Yellow and Blue make the Green, and the Blue and Violet make the Indigo. All of those make still more colors, an infinite variety of the visible colors from one end to the other. Don't forget the ones we can't see unaided, the ultraviolet on one end and the infrared on the other.
The physics of light refraction don't change and there have always been rainbows as long as there has been sunlight and rain. However, the best rainbow ever recorded is in Genesis when God showed one to Noah at the end of the period of the great flood and promised him that he, God, would never again destroy the earth with flooding. That promise is but one of many that God has given to us since our creation in his image and likeness. The best promise of all was to give his son to us to save us and redeem us from the sin of Adam and Eve. Twice in the new testament, God the Father announces that Jesus is, "My beloved son in whom I am well pleased". He did it to the multitude who witnessed Jesus' baptism and again on the Mount of Transfiguration. God kept that promise through the horror of the crucifixion and the ascension.
God promised us that we may spend all of eternity with him once our time on Earth is finished. His only request of us is that we serve him faithfully, follow the rules, the commandments, he gave us, and follow the leadership of us son, Jesus. He didn't promise us it would be easy or without trouble or strife. He did promise us he would be there for us to call on when we needed help. Whether that help would be truly miraculous or having the right person come into our life at the right time is up to him. He knows the best way and we who are wise will accept the help he brings.
God may or may not show you his rainbow as the symbol of his promise. He may show you something else of his beauty when you most need it. At the end of the day, what he will show you is his limitless and endless love for you. What more can we want?
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Life Is...
Life is...whatever we make of it. Sometimes it is great. Sometimes it really sucks. John Lennon, the Beatle, said "Life is what happens while we're making other plans." We heard that same quote near the end of the movie, "Mr. Holland's Opus." Life for me was really great when I was there watching three of my four children be born. Life really sucked the morning I walked into my mom's bedroom and discovered she has passed away during the night. I am sure you have your own experiences,
positive and negative, that you could list and some would make mine seem minor by comparison.
If you have ever been around me when something happened, then you probably heard me say just the title, "Life is", meaning "life is what it is". We do have some control over the things that we do and that happen to us. To the limit of that control, we are responsible. There are also things that happen, good and bad, which are out of our control and we have to accept them for what they are. We have no control over buying that winning lottery ticket or having a traffic accident that is the other guy's total fault. It is how we deal with it that really counts and that is under our control.
Many times we like to take the credit for what happens or give it to God or to his archenemy, Satan. Sometimes, it is just random chance, good or bad. If you walk into a convenience store and buy a winning lottery ticket, I don't believe God arranged for those random numbers to spit out at that exact moment. We may certainly thank him for that event and hopefully use that money for good. By the way, don't forget to give him his share. On the other hand, if you are laid off from your job, one you really love to do, it can just as easily be the result of poor management or a downturn in the economy. Many people in that situation like to blame God or Satan for what happened, when the reality is neither one had anything to do with it.
Okay, you say, so random chance happens to you, good and bad, so what? So it is how you handle that random event that opens the door for either God or Satan. The lottery winner who does positive things with his millions is definitely listening to what God has to say and the guidance that comes with it. There is nothing wrong with using that money for our own benefit, after giving God his share first. So you want a new house, cars, vacations, perhaps quit your job, or any other use of that money. Do it! God wants us to be prosperous. It is the fool who uses good fortune for evil, and we know where that comes from, who will suffer in the end. Spending good fortune on things which are a violation of God's rules is definitely a misuse.
Things happen to people, to you and to me. Sometimes it is the hand of God that reaches down to boost us up in a time of need. Sometimes it is a trial that he allows us to experience in order to give us the chance to build up our spiritual strength. Like what? Like the trials of Job. Certainly, he came out of that time of trial much stronger than he was when it started.
The bottom line is that life happens to us whether we are ready or not. It is how we handle that happening that really counts. There is certainly nothing wrong with thanking God for what has happened to us when it was just chance, but the important thing is to use that random event to draw even closer to him and to give him the glory which he certainly deserves.
positive and negative, that you could list and some would make mine seem minor by comparison.
If you have ever been around me when something happened, then you probably heard me say just the title, "Life is", meaning "life is what it is". We do have some control over the things that we do and that happen to us. To the limit of that control, we are responsible. There are also things that happen, good and bad, which are out of our control and we have to accept them for what they are. We have no control over buying that winning lottery ticket or having a traffic accident that is the other guy's total fault. It is how we deal with it that really counts and that is under our control.
Many times we like to take the credit for what happens or give it to God or to his archenemy, Satan. Sometimes, it is just random chance, good or bad. If you walk into a convenience store and buy a winning lottery ticket, I don't believe God arranged for those random numbers to spit out at that exact moment. We may certainly thank him for that event and hopefully use that money for good. By the way, don't forget to give him his share. On the other hand, if you are laid off from your job, one you really love to do, it can just as easily be the result of poor management or a downturn in the economy. Many people in that situation like to blame God or Satan for what happened, when the reality is neither one had anything to do with it.
Okay, you say, so random chance happens to you, good and bad, so what? So it is how you handle that random event that opens the door for either God or Satan. The lottery winner who does positive things with his millions is definitely listening to what God has to say and the guidance that comes with it. There is nothing wrong with using that money for our own benefit, after giving God his share first. So you want a new house, cars, vacations, perhaps quit your job, or any other use of that money. Do it! God wants us to be prosperous. It is the fool who uses good fortune for evil, and we know where that comes from, who will suffer in the end. Spending good fortune on things which are a violation of God's rules is definitely a misuse.
Things happen to people, to you and to me. Sometimes it is the hand of God that reaches down to boost us up in a time of need. Sometimes it is a trial that he allows us to experience in order to give us the chance to build up our spiritual strength. Like what? Like the trials of Job. Certainly, he came out of that time of trial much stronger than he was when it started.
The bottom line is that life happens to us whether we are ready or not. It is how we handle that happening that really counts. There is certainly nothing wrong with thanking God for what has happened to us when it was just chance, but the important thing is to use that random event to draw even closer to him and to give him the glory which he certainly deserves.
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